August Birthday Friends

August is a busy month for us... and some of our friends too!
Today we spent a few hours with our friends whose birthdays are also in August.  We spent a few hours at the pool... where MD practiced his snorkeling skills for our next trip to Hawaii!  (whenever that will be!)

 He's going under!  :)

 The 3 August girls: MG on 08-08, Emma on 08-10, and Annamarie on 08-16.  They have known each other since birth but have spent less time as they get older...

 So it's nice to get together at least a few times during the summer to celebrate their birthdays!  (Notice MD in the water behind them?  That stinker!  :))

 I baked a quick cake in their honour:

After the celebration we headed to the Los Gatos Library to celebrate the end of the summer reading program.  This is our 3rd year doing this and the children love it!
They were each given a coupon to get a balloon animals/item.  MD wanted a guitar... the balloon man is in training and didn't think he could do that with the short time he was given.  Then MG asked for a spider but he said he couldn't do that well enough yet - unless she was willing to use her imagination!

 E opted for a giraffe - simple enough!

 MG "settled" on a dog on a leash (closest she will get to one!), and MD went for the sword when he couldn't ask for a demeantor!

 We listened to some pretty cool songs:

 While we ate complimentary popcorn, drank lemon aide, and read some books they received for free!  They each received a new book for taking part in the summer reading program and then received 2 more from the friends of the library book store sale!  I was prepared to pay for them when the  kind volunteer told me the children could each have 2 books for free.  Well, heck yes.. pick out whichever ones you want!  :)

 She picked this mad lib book and was hooked the entire time!

 MD found a book on spiders and another one on sea creatures -- score!!!  He found 2 on dinosaurs but was content to smile for my camera instead.  :)

It was a great day today!

Science Camp Day 5 -- Last Day of this session

What a successful week it was for M&M.  They enjoyed all science experiments, learned a lot about fore and motion and always came home eager to help E build the same experiment they had from class.  Thank goodness a lot for the projects could be replicated!  However, today's last class could not be replicated (with the few items we have on hand at home.. but can be if Daddy helps!)... they made bottle rockets!  And the project fit the weather... it was a HOT day!!!
When E and I arrived, they were at the end of this so we grabbed a few photos.  Can you see MD in the yellow pumping???

 Them they chased their rockets!

 And they cleaned up...

And played with some balloons -- the parents and I had a good laughed as they blew them up with a hand pump then released the balloons and watched them maneuver through the air above them hoping they would land near by... at least not on the roof!

 E took these photos of MD and MG:

They are now looking forward to another week (a shorter one due to holiday on Monday) about magic!  Oh boy... Harry Potter movie moves may be haunting me again..... Wish me luck!  Hope doors don't get locked or something strange happens!

Today we went swimming after class --- it was perfect!!!  

Science Camp Day 2

Crazy weather brought rain to our neck of the woods today... Yes, rain!!!!  Hello... It's almost the END of June?!  How is that possible?!  Regardless, they still continued with their class and experiments!  Today they were out launching straws... who knows what they were doing inside!  I was outside a few minutes after dropping them off trying to decide what to do.  A few minutes turned into an hour and guess, what? They came out and I was able to grab a few photos:

 I love that they were running around and launching their straws as far as they could get them -- and all they used were a balloon, a tube, and some straws!  Of course, when we came home, we set to make E one so he could launch his straws around the house.  Soooo fun!

While they were here... E and I visited my dear friend, Becky.  She lives about 5 minutes from their science class - so nice!  I hardly get the chance to see Becky during the school year because she teaches (we were teaching partners for years before I left to stay at home with my 3).  So this summer we promised to have more visits so we can get reacquainted and our children can be better friends.  MG and Emma are 2 days apart.  MD and Sydney are about 3 months apart. And E and Audrey are 1 month apart!  I know... crazy, huh??? Whenever we get together, we feel like we've never been apart.  I am comfortable at her house and always feel so relaxed.  Today was no different.  When I arrived, she had just agreed to bake cookies.  But there was just one minor problem...
She couldn't find the other mixer part...she dug through her drawer...

 And then went here:

 And here...

 And even here... hmmm, I asked her why she looked there.  She thought maybe one of the girls took it when she gave them batter to lick and never returned it.  Oh, okay... I guess... I laughed.  :)  Oh, she couldn't find it - but she found a bagel!  I laughed some more!  She laughed some more...

Then Emma came to the rescue!   (Now, may I tell you all that Becky and I looked in that drawer numerous times???  I don't know how we missed it!  We must be getting old!)

 "It was right there mom!"   (don't you just love it when they laugh at you?!)

That's why I love Becky - she is such a good sport about things.  She and I had a good laugh... and focused on another cup of coffee... It was what we needed today to get our brain cells working!

And this is what E and Audrey were doing... One day they are holding hands.  The next day they are cuddling in front of the television... Should I worry that they are starting out so young?! ;) 

Good friends are the best!  We enjoyed the Snickerdoodles she sent home with us... only, they didn't quite make their way home!  We ate them while driving home.  Does that count as almost making it home?!

Science Camp Day 1

The title threw them off and they asked me where they were going to sleep and if they needed to pack their own bags and pitch their own tents.  Can you imagine?!  I never thought about that.  I assumed they knew it was just a day camp!  So we had a talk and everything was straightened out before I dropped them off today for their first day of science "camp."  For 3 hours a day for the net 2 weeks they will be having a ton of fun doing lots of science stuff... what stuff will they do, I don't know!  I just know they will be having loads of fun...and E and I have to figure out what we can do to fill in the void.  We are rarely ever alone for 3 full hours!  We do so much together...  (sigh)  So guess what we did today while they were gone?  We went shopping at Costco!  (woohoo!!!)  Exciting, I know!  ;) And I couldn't buy anything perishable since I didn't want to drive all the way home and then back again to pick them up - the thought of the amount of gas I would be wasting!  (no thank you!  So we bought juice and paper goods instead.)

When we arrived to pick M&M up, this is what we saw:

 two of our favorite people having loads of fun! (as expected)

 They hardly noticed us... but they did eventually... and they waved.

They are excited for tomorrow's adventure (sans the scary idea of pitching tents, rolling out sleeping bags, and using the toilet in the middle of the night by themselves!).

HOT!

It was hot today....

frozen gogurt anyone???
E asked, "Mom, you want to take off your clothes too?"
Um... better not scare the neighbors, Honey!
 (FYI - MG is wearing her clothes! :)  She's just reading and snuggling with MD)  E apparently thinks that taking off "any" number article of clothing is considered all clothing!  :)